Family life and baking

Sticky Toffee Apple Cake with Caramel cream and Pecan Brittle

Recipe for a delicious seasonal Sticky Toffee Apple Cake filled with a Caramel Cream and Topped with Pecan Brittle.

Anyone who has followed my recipes in the past knows that I take a bit of a left field view of baking. I think recipes are there to be adapted. If you don’t have or can’t source an ingredient then be creative and exchange it for something similar. This recipe calls for dessert apples but for the one I baked and pictured above I used bramley apples because I had so many, I added an extra tablespoon of sugar to counter the sharpness and it was delicious. If you don’t have brown sugar then use white it just won’t taste so much like a sticky toffee cake, but you just end up with a cake unique to you. Never be scared to go off piste!

You can’t get much more Autumn on a plate than this cake. Wether you are whipping it up for Sunday lunch or a get together you are going to become very popular!!

TOP TIPS

✓ Grate your apples right before you add them or else they will go brown.

✓ For the caramel in the filling I used Nestle ready made tinned caramel but you can use any ready made caramel sauce or even make your own. You can find a great one here – Caramel Sauce.

✓ When making the Pecan Brittle please keep children away from the kitchen, the boiling sugar is so dangerous and the temptation to touch the brittle when it’s still scaldingly hot is bad enough for us adults never mind small fingers.

✓ Add 2tsp ground cinnamon if you enjoy a more festive flavour.

✓ Raisins are a nice addition too, just add a handful to the mixture while adding the flour.

Ingredients

Cake

150ml sunflower or vegetable oil

175g soft brown sugar

2 large eggs

250g Self Raising flour

250g grated dessert apples (about 3 medium sized apples)

1 large tbsp golden syrup

2tsp ground ginger

1tsp Bicarb of Soda

Zest of 1 orange

Caramel cream

1 tub cream cheese (125g)

125g salted butter

2 large tbsp ready made caramel

280g icing sugar

Pecan Brittle

1 cup cup pecans

1tbs water

1/2 cup caster sugar

Method

Oven to 180°c. Line 2x 8″ cake tins with parchment.

Whisk eggs and sugar until pale and fluffy, then pour in oil while whisking for a further 2min.

Stir in grated apple and golden syrup.

Fold in flour, ground ginger, bicarb soda and orange zest until well mixed. (Add raisins or cinnamon if using).

Spilt between two 8″ cake tins or if you just have one then pour half mixture in and bake for around 30min until skewer comes out clean and cake bounces back when pressed. Repeat with rest of mixture if using just one tin. Leave to cool in a cooling rack.

To make the filling, beat the butter and cream cheese until smooth, add the caramel and beat well.

Sift in the icing sugar and whisk it together. You want it to be smooth but not runny, the consistancy of a well whipped cream. If too soft, add more icing sugar if too thick then add a splash of milk and beat. Set aside

To make the Brittle, get a baking tray lined with parchment ready. Then put the sugar and water in a saucepan and place on a low heat – don’t touch or take your eyes off it. Once it starts to liquify then you can start to rotate the pan a bit to catch all the sugar and get it all together. Turn the heat up slightly and you are looking for a warm golden colour. Once it’s there, add the pecans and use a spoon to quickly coat them and tip it out onto the baking tray. Use your spoon to spread them out a bit, you have to work fast as it will set super fast. DO NOT BE TEMPTED TO TOUCH THIS AS IT WILL BE MOLTEN HOT. You can watch a great video HERE to show you what you are looking for in terms of colour.

Leave to cool then it can be broken up, don’t worry if it’s in big clumps it will chop up and look rustic!

To assemble, place one cake on a plate and spoon on a generous amount of caramel cream, spread it out and top with the second sponge. Pipe the top with the remaining cream and then with the broken up pecan brittle. If you are feeling extra filthy then drizzle some of your leftover caramel sauce over the top. Eh voilà!

The unfilled sponges can be made ahead and either kept in an airtight container for up to three days or else frozen for up to a month then defrosted when needed and then filled and topped. When all put together I recommend keeping the cake in an airtight container in the fridge and consuming within 2 days – it’s never usually a problem!!